


Báleygr

by Ioeth



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, Can you tell I wrote this over the course of a few days, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, I'm so sorry, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Maybe - Freeform, Mentions of Suicide, Multi, Reader-Insert, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Spoilers, Spoilers Up to the Last Palace, There will be less angst one day, Unbeta'd, mentions of self harm, probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-07 19:58:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11066067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ioeth/pseuds/Ioeth
Summary: Báleygr: Meaning Flaming Eye or Shifty EyedIn which Goro Akechi isn't alone but everything still goes wrong for him anyway





	1. In which death is predominant

You’re pressed up against the wall. Two large shadows stand before you. Water is quickly filling the room. You hear Goro inhale sharply beside you and you reach out to grasp his hand. He’s shaking, and scared but he squeezes your hand in reassurance. Both of you know that this will be the last stand. The crimes the both of you committed cannot be forgiven, time cannot be rewound and death is absolute.

Fenrir rips one of the Shadows in half as he lunges forward in unison with you. You feel a heady rush as it dissipates. A berserker’s rage washing over you and vanishing as abruptly as it appeared. You feel Fenrir’s disapproval at the display of self control but you ignore it in favour of dispatching the last shadow together with Goro. You don’t get a chance to land the final blow. The water rises rapidly and the world fades to black as you suffocate in the depths of Shido’s cognitive ocean.

* * *

May 14 th , 20XX

 

Mom is dead and the police have taken her away. You’re only seven but you know that much. Beside you Goro is crying quietly in his sleep. A police officer watches over the both of you as you rest on the couch. They think they’re talking quietly but you can hear them. You hear them say things like “Poor kids, how could their mothers be so irresponsible?” and “Guess they’re gonna end up in an institution.”

They pity you but there’s a feeling of disdain in their gazes as they observe you. Goro stirs awake as if sensing your frustration and you lean into him as he hugs you close. You might have lost your mother but he’s still here and mom always told the both of you to stay close.

You’re seven years old, but your mother has just died. You feel your childhood ending abruptly as your world crumbles beneath your feet

* * *

June 2, 20XX

 

Today is your mother’s funeral.

You and your brother are both eight today.

The workers at the orphanage force the both of you to wear black clothes. You both match the man who comes to accompany the two of you to the shrine where your mother’s ashes are. He stands there like a immovable living rock as you and Goro bawl your eyes out in front of the shrine.

No one else is here. There is only your brother left.

The man in black tells you, once you’ve stopped crying, that there is a small bank account under both your names. It’s payment for all that was left in the apartment the three of you lived in, happily, after deducting the funeral costs. He takes you to Tokyo Bay and onto a boat.

It’s the long awaited trip your mother promised but never followed through with.

Goro holds your hand. Eyes red from crying, dried tear streaks on his face. It’s a beautiful day, the sea breeze is soft but the salt stings your eyes as you scatter your mother’s ashes into the sea.

 

* * *

 

December 25 th , 20XX

 

It doesn’t feel like Christmas.

 

* * *

June 2 th , 20XX

 

There’s no birthday parties for the children like you. There’s only one at the end of each month because there are many like you and everyone who was born in June get cake then.

Today is the Obon Festival.

There is no grave to visit. No ancestors to honour.

Because we drowned mother in the sea.

We’re 9 now.


	2. In Which There is Suicide

October 7 th , 20XX

 

It’s sudden and unexpected when the orphanage decides to transfer you away without your brother.

“You’ll see him again,” one says.

 

“You two can just send letters to each other,” another adds with false sympathy.

They’re lying, you’re certain but you resign yourself to your fate. You’re still a minor and the world is so very unkind.

You are only ten when you are torn away, screaming and crying, from your twin brother. The only family you have left.

* * *

November 4 th , 20XX

 

Someone brings an old tabloid magazine and it reads: “Masayoshi Shido in an illicit relationship?” in large blocky letters. You grab the magazine before anyone can get to it and read it fervidly. There is a picture of your father and you know that it’s him. She’s, your mother, has mentioned him on days when it “didn’t hurt to talk about your father”. In smaller text, it tells you to go to page 17 for more details. You carefully put the magazine back and wonder if this was why he abandoned you all.

You pester one of the workers to give you the address of your previous orphanage. You plead with another for some money to send a letter.

You’re twelve when you smuggle pieces of your father to Goro through letters.

* * *

September 1 st , 20XX

 

It’s a distinctly autumn day when you transfer to your new school. You mask your insecurity with a confident façade.

The minute you step on campus, you immediately catch the attention of someone you should not.

Minoru Rin, the name that would haunt you for the rest of your middle school life.

* * *

September 2 nd , 20XX

 

Rumours of Minoru Rin being interested in the new transfer student gets around and it doesn’t take long for you to be cornered in an isolated corner of the school. It takes approximately five minutes for you to “learn” your place and another ten for you to be beaten into the ground. 

 

* * *

October 22nd, 20XX

 

It doesn’t stop. The noises. The rumours. The **pain.** iT **dO** _es_ N’ _t_ **s** _t_ oP

 

* * *

 

December 12th, 20XX

 

The world looks so small from where you stand. It’s quiet and peaceful too. You smile and close your eyes as you take a step forward. Time stops.

 

* * *

When you open your eyes, you’re hanging from a tree. Goro is lying beside you, motionless. You slowly get up on your feet in confusion. Beneath your feet is a blue carpet. You turn slowly, no matter where you look there are blue cage bars greet you. Goro groans as he pushes himself onto his feet. He stumbles, but you quickly grab his forearm to steady him.

 

You study the twin you haven’t seen in months. He’s grown much taller but he’s thinner than you thought. Red lines glare at you from his wrists and jagged scars pepper the rest of his arms. 

 

It occurs to you abruptly that it’s like staring into a mirror. 

 

You recoil the minute he touches the fresh cut on your neck. As if it was a signal the cage splits in half and it shrinks rapidly until you’re both forced onto your knees. Two young girls stand before the both of you, above them an old man sits behind a desk upon a throne suspended in the clouds.

 

“Welcome to the Velvet Room. I am pleased to make your acquaintances, Goro Akechi and… Kohaku Akechi,” he smiles mysteriously, “This place exists between dream and reality, between mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a contract may enter. I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well.” He pauses to scrutinize the both of you. “I have summoned you today to discuss important matters. Matters… involving your lives.” He turns his gaze towards the tree. “The state of this room reflects the state of your hearts, to think a tree would appear as such and yet to be kept in a cage, the both of you truly are wingless birds. ” He gestures to the two young girls, “Worry not. My assistants, Caroline and Justine shall aid you on your path of to rehabilitation. Now, return to the time of the living. You shall have much time to discover the true utmost worth of this place.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Igor goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on. 
> 
> He never stops.
> 
> For the sake of fluidity and to avoid using the (y/n) the reader insert was given a name. Please don't roast me alive for doing so


	3. December 30th, Goro Akechi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm not tired, you’re tired.
> 
> Posted via phone. Apologies in advance if there are any formatting mistakes

December 30th, 20XX

 

The nurses all comment on how miraculous his twin’s luck must have been to survive falling from such a height. Goro knows better though. He remembers the burning sensation as the chair was kicked from below him. He remembers his vision fading slowly as his life drained from him. He remembers waking up the next day on the ground, beside him the makeshift noose, his peers had made while they tormented him with insults and violence, cut cleanly in half. He remembers a long nosed man and two blond child wardens forcing them to live. He remembers the advice he was given. He remembers the order he was given.

 

So he moves in accordance. He buys an apartment in Tokyo with the money he earns from killing Shadows in the Metaverse. He causes a Psychotic Breakdown on every person who ever tormented his other half and enjoys the sickening sound of claws, hands and fangs tearing into vulnerable flesh. He drives their Shadows insane. He hears rumours about the bullies being expelled after the ringleader, Minoru Rin, nearly clawed the face off the teacher who turned a blind eye to the bullying. He smiles to himself.    

  
‘It's Poetic Justice.’ He thinks as he pulls on a  pair of leather gloves. He slips smoothly into the Metaverse with a gun clenched in his left hand and a blade in the right, perfectly poised to cause chaos.


End file.
